VERA SCHIFF // BOOK LAUNCH

JUNE 24, 2021 @ 2 PM EDT

Join the Neuberger’s Managing Director Dr. Carson Phillips in conversation with Holocaust survivor and author Vera Schiff as they discuss her latest book Surviving Theresienstadt: A Teenagers Memoir of the Holocaust. They will be joined by Dr. Cheryl Fury, Professor of History at the University of New Brunswick (Saint John) and a fellow/faculty member of the Gregg Centre for War and Society. Together they will explore some of the themes addressed in Vera’s latest book as well as her motivations for writing. Audience questions are invited through the Facebook Live comment section.

Program will be accessible on Facebook Live (facebook.com/HoloCentre) on June 24 at 2 PM EDT.

Dr. Carson Phillips
Managing Director, Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre

Carson Phillips, PhD, is the Managing Director of the Neuberger and the recipient of scholarly awards including the 2013 BMW Canada Award from the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies, York University. He completed his PhD in Humanities utilizing archival resources, memoirs and testimony exploring post-Holocaust conceptualizations of masculinity. Dr. Phillips is an editorial board member of PRISM— An Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators, and an expert on Holocaust education and pedagogy. From 2009-2014, he was a delegate to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and in 2016 completed a fellowship at the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies. He is also adjunct faculty at Gratz College, USA, in the graduate program for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. See his blog Bildung for his latest posting on issues related to Holocaust education as well as his latest writings in the publication Interactions (2018, W. Dreier, A. Laumer and M.Weinand editors) and Remembering the Holocaust in Educational Settings (Routledge, 2018, A. Pearce editor).

Vera Schiff
Holocaust Survivor, Educator & Author

Vera Schiff (née Katz) was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1926. In 1942, the entire Katz family was deported to Theresienstadt, where all but Vera were murdered. She was liberated by the Soviet Army in May 1945. Vera and her husband Arthur immigrated to Canada from Israel in 1961. Vera is the author of seven books on the Holocaust including the award-winning Theresienstadt—The Town the Nazis Gave to the Jews. She is the recipient of two honorary doctorates: UNB-Saint John (2012) and Thompson Rivers University (2020). Vera was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2020 in recognition of her contributions to Holocaust literature and education.

Dr. Cheryl Fury
Professor of History at the University of New Brunswick (Saint John) 

Cheryl Fury is a Professor of History at the University of New Brunswick (Saint John) and a fellow/faculty member of the Gregg Centre for War and Society. She teaches courses in European and British history (Tudor-Stuart England, early modern women, queenship, as well as modern Europe, especially the Holocaust and Fascism). She also enjoys teaching for the UNB travel study program in Rome and London. She holds a BA (Honours History & English) and an MA (History) from the University of New Brunswick. She received her PhD from McMaster University. She has held a number of international research fellowships including the Alexander O. Vietor Memorial Fellowship in Maritime History at the John Carter Brown Library (USA) and the Institute of Historical Research’s Visiting Fellowship (U.K). She has spent her career studying the English maritime community. She has written and edited a number of books on the social history of English seafarers: Tides in the Affairs of Men (2002), The Social History of English Seamen 1485-1649 (2012) and The Social History of English Seamen 1650-1815 (Runner-up, Best Book of 2017, Keith Matthews Award, Canadian Nautical Research Society) as well as several articles in academic journals and chapters in books.

The Anne Frank Community Reading Project

In periods of crisis, people often turn to journals for solace and contemplation, and at a time when we are all isolated from our friends and family, many are doing just that. 

First published in 1947, the Diary of Anne Frank is arguably the most famous book to emerge from the Holocaust. Generations have been inspired by the reflections of a talented young girl who has become an icon of hope and humanity.

We at the Neuberger believe that this is the perfect time to revisit Anne's diary, with the Anne Frank Community Reading Project. This program is designed for families to read and discuss Anne Frank's diary together, with Neuberger staff, and with the wider community. 

Over the last 6 weeks we read and reflected on this important and moving source, together. Learn more about the program and revisit some of our discussion topics here.

Monday August 24 @ 7:30 pm EDT

The Neuberger partnered with the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center & Burke-Cohen Entertainment topresent a live virtual reading of Jeff Cohen’s new play Righteous. Starring Tony Award-winners Frank Wood and Denis O’Hare, Tony Award-nominees Johanna Day, Jessica Hecht, Daniel Jenkins, and Richard Kind, SAG Award nominee Peter Jacobson and Drama Desk Award winner Ned Eisenberg. Also featured in the cast are Jimmy Burke and Dee Pelletier. Directed by Shana Cooper.

What would you do if you learned that your country planned to exterminate an entire race of people? That is the horrible question faced by Eduard Schulte, a captain of German industry and member of Hitler’s inner circle. Righteous is the true story of the man who sounded the alarm of Hitler’s plan to murder all the Jews in Europe. Schulte’s warning reached the desk of President Roosevelt in December 1942.

Inspirational moments during an unprecedented time

We’re all searching for meaningful ways to stay in touch and inspired during these challenging times. Feelings of isolation and uncertainty can sometimes get the best of us, but at the end of day there is strength in having hope. Join the March of the Living Toronto, UJA’s Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre and UJA Genesis, as we navigate our way through this unprecedented time with an intergenerational conversation between Holocaust survivor, Nathan Leipciger, and his granddaughter, Jenn Green. As we reflect back on Nate’s experiences during the Holocaust, he will share messages of hope reminding and reassuring us that there is a brighter tomorrow ahead.

"I Want You to Know We're Still Here" with Esther Safron Foer

Join the Neuberger and the Virtual J, in discussion with Esther Safron Foer about her newly published book, I Want You to Know We're Still Here: A Post-Holocaust Memoir (2020). In conversation with her son, writer Franklin Foer, we will explore this beau­ti­ful­ly writ­ten account of a relent­less jour­ney to the genealog­i­cal — indeed geo­graph­ic — core of fam­i­ly trau­ma to uncov­er mys­ter­ies buried in the mass graves of an old-world shtetl. The mem­oir con­cludes with a new-world birth — a grand­son who car­ries Foer fam­i­ly his­to­ry in his name and soul — sym­bol­iz­ing the promise of the next gen­er­a­tion. In uncov­er­ing the past, Foer demon­strates how mem­o­ry can, ther­a­peu­ti­cal­ly, fill an aching absence.
 

Learn more and find out how you can tune into this FREE program on the Virtual J's digital platform.

How Descendants of Holocaust Survivors are Experiencing the Current Pandemic

Thank you to the hundreds of descendants of Holocaust survivors who joined us for our first Dialogue for Descendants online program: a webinar with Dr. Irit Felsen on How Descendants of Holocaust Survivors are Experiencing the Current Pandemic.

More information about this past program available here.

Click here to view a recording of the webinar. 

Coming Clean: The Soap Myth in Holocaust Memory

We know that the Nazis used their victims in several ways, but turning them into soap? Jeff Cohen's play The Soap Myth unpacks the legacy of one of the most notorious myths to come out of the Holocaust, and explores the tension between lived experience and scholarly conclusion. Join playwright Jeff Cohen and the Neuberger's program and education assistant Dan Panneton as they introduce a recorded Live Reading of The Soap Myth.

The Soap Myth is viewable through PBS and the Introduction can be found on the Neuberger's Facebook.

Facebook Videos: https://www.facebook.com/HoloCentre/videos

The Soap Myth: https://www.pbs.org/video/the-soap-myth-xplvfu/

I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors

This short animated adaptation of Bernice Eisenstein's critically acclaimed graphic memoir explores intergenerational trauma and the experience of being the child of survivors. The Neuberger was grateful to present a talkback with Bernice, reflecting back on her experience writing the book and the adaption into this short film. You can still watch the film at the National Film Board online. 

Inglourious Basterds with Introduction

When Inglourious Basterds was released in 2009, reactions were mixed. Some hailed the bold cinematic intervention into Holocaust and WW2 memory, while others denounced the film's trivialization of history. Ten years later, how has the movie aged? What can it tell us about popular memory and representation? The Neuberger was joined by film critic and writer John Semley as we introduced Quentin Tarantino's notorious revenge story. 

Webinars for Educators and Students

Thank you to everyone who joined us as we launched the online resource, The Brady Resource Kit, at two special online programs. More coming soon.

The Brady Resource Kit Online

The Neuberger’s educational team recently launched the digital version of the Brady Resource Kit.

By examining and analyzing archival documents, photographs, and recorded survivor testimony, students learn about the Holocaust through one family’s experiences.

Based on the principles of inquiry-based learning, students will discover important historical facts and learn to independently contextualize history. In doing so they wrestle with questions and situations that may challenge preconceived ideas about the Holocaust and Jewish responses, encouraging a deeper learning experience.

Special guests including, the website developers, took part in an exciting presentation guiding us through the process of using the site. Access the site at www.bradyresourcekit.ca.

The Neuberger @ TJFF

The 28th Toronto Jewish Film Festival ran from the May 30 to June 7 this year, on a new virtual platform. This year, the Neuberger was thrilled to co-present the films How Holocaust Came to TV, which played all day on June 1, and My Name is Sara, all day on June 5.

Check out the entire festival lineup here and get your questions answered here.